Texas city to rival San Antonio in pursuit for MLS franchise

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Today, MountainStar Sports Group announced that it intends to take an MLS franchise to El Paso. MountainStar Sports Group took a Triple-A baseball team to El Paso this year, the El Paso Chihuahuas.

According to MountainStar President Alan Ledford, MLS officials were at the opening of Southwest University Park and were impressed with the community support and will be in El Paso again on July 6 when popular Mexican club CD Guadalajara plays Brazilian club Cruzeiro at the Sun Bowl. The Scorpions will face Mexican Clubs Tigres UANL (June 21), Monterrey (July 6) and the Mexican under-21 national team (June 28).

“The ownership group has had several very good meetings with MLS, including meeting on two occasions with Don Garber, the League’s commissioner,” Ledford said in a press release. “This is the first step in a very long process, and we will continue to pursue all avenues available to urge MLS to consider the El Paso region as a viable expansion market.”

Apart from the two Texas cities San Antonio and El Paso, Sacramento, Minneapolis and Las Vegas have also expressed their interest in an MLS team.

Currently, MLS has 19 teams. New York City FC and Orlando City will join the league in 2015, Atlanta landed the 22nd franchise and is set to begin in 2016, while former LA Galaxy star David Beckham and his ownership group will likely secure the 23rd team in Miami, leaving the last franchise up for grabs.

The Scorpions play at Toyota Field, which holds 8,000 but is expandable to 18,500. Minneapolis is the only other city that already has a team in the NASL (North American Soccer League).

MLS has expressed in recent months that they would like to add cities with a stadium in the downtown area, which could be a problem for all of the cities. However, El Paso demolished its City Hall in 2013 to make way for the new ballpark which now is the home of their triple A baseball team in the heart of downtown.